Recent reviews by apocalyptech

tl;dr: I recommend it, but have some reservations. It's good but slightly uneven!

The too-many-words version:

I'm probably rather biased, since I'm a fan of Look Mum No Computer's music and youtube output. Nevertheless: I'd recommend the game! It's extremely charming, with a delightfully absurd plot, amusing characters, and an incredible amount of charm. The base moment-to-moment gameplay is pretty typical twin-stick shooter, but I've never really played a game quite like this. The zone theming is wonderful, and if you're a fan of LMNC you'll find plenty to be amused by.

It's not without some downsides. The game difficulty ends up ramping up somewhat surprisingly. The first few zones can lull you into a sense of coziness, but later in the game I found the difficulty outstripping my ability pretty sharply. At time of writing, there's no way to change the difficulty while mid-game, but I'm hoping they'll add that in at some point. I'd recommend setting the difficulty a bit lower than you might usually do, unless you're one to really enjoy more difficult twin-stick shooter gameplay later on in the game.

I also found the later-game grinding for upgrade parts to be quite tiresome, to the extent that I ended up just using memory edits to give myself upgrade material. That's made worse by the difficulty curve, which made me feel like upgrading as much as possible was the only way I could make it through the later levels. The screen is often extremely visually busy, to the point where keeping track of what's an enemy projectile and what's your own is difficult. And finally, being self-aware and joking about how escort missions are often bad doesn't actually excuse having bad escort missions.

The other thing I'm not super keen on, unfortunately, is one of the game's most unique selling points: the dynamic soundtrack which changes based on your selected equipment and power levels. In theory this is awesome, and fits in very well with LMNC's vibe. In practice I found it to be kind of non-ideal, though. In the early game you're stuck with some very sparse-sounding short loops which may not even have a good melody enabled. If you end up preferring a weapon whose sound you're not fond of, you've got to choose between being annoyed by the sound or just not using that weapon.

For instance, I found the Theremin-themed passive ability was rather vital for keeping me alive, but I really didn't like how prominent its loop was. I could lower its power level to make the theremin less prevalent, but that also decreases the effectiveness of the shield, so in the end I just lived with it. I just don't think that the system is a great way to experience the music in the game, alas. The station in your "home base" where you can feely mix+match all components is a lot of fun to tinker with, and provides a much better experience, but is completely separate from the actual gameplay.

Anyway, I'm hesitant to harp on those deficiencies too much, because it's an extremely unique game which I did definitely enjoy, and was happy to have played through.

This reboot is actually a pretty good game which probably doesn't deserve the bad reputation it's gotten (at least in singleplayer -- I've heard that multiplayer can be rough, which I can't comment on). In its current state (July 2025), I had a very smooth playthrough. I had about four crashes across my ~80hrs, and ran into a few bugs, but nothing game-breaking and I never lost progress.

The game actually improves on the mechanical storytelling compared to the previous games, IMO. In SR3+4 I always felt like for every cutscene we saw, we were missing like 2-3 cutscenes inbetween (I'd constantly feel like I had to infer plot developments from context, etc). This one never felt like it had any of those "missing link" moments, which was nice. I thought the story was actually pretty decent, though it feels like the stakes are quite a bit lower than in previous games. I also liked how many of the side-activities were tied into your empire building. Also, even though the game is unavoidably less absurd than some previous entries in the series, there's still plenty of absurdity and silliness throughout; the game does not take itself too seriously, and the tone felt right to me.

On to some downsides: I found the beginning of the game pretty dull. When you first hop into the game, the world feels kind of lifeless and empty, and a lot of the activities which are available right from the beginning tend to be some of the more dull ones. By the midgame I was having a great time and it felt more Saints Rowy, but I can understand how someone could walk away with a bad opinion if they didn't find the beginning interesting enough to continue. It also doesn't evolve the gameplay at all. If you want another game which plays basically exactly like previous Saints Row games, this will do the trick, but if you were hoping for an evolution of the series from a gameplay perspective, this isn't it.

In the end, I had a very good time, and I think it's well worth the current full price of $30. It's going to unavoidably pale in comparison to some of the prior "greats" in the series, especially since the gameplay is essentially identical, but if you're willing to give it a bit of leeway, IMO you'll have a good time if you enjoy the previous Saints Row loops.

What a delightful, surreal game. This is very pleasantly unlike basically anything else I've played before. Not necessarily mechanically, but the whole experience feels very unique. I expect that fully enjoying it probably requires a particular sense of humor combined with a certain amount of cultural familiarity, but IMO it's well worth anyone's time.

This is a very charming and beautiful game which was pretty obviously crafted with a lot of love and care. The storybook themeing is quite nice visually, and it's a fun conceit to have a character who can hop back and forth between the book and the "real" world like that. I have various reservations about the game, but I'd end up recommending it regardless.

Part of the problem I have is, I think, that it's probably just geared to a pretty young crowd. The tone of the game is earnest throughout, and the humor is pretty light. The "action" sections are mostly quite easy for an adult used to video games, and none of the puzzle sections were difficult either -- I didn't really have any moments in the game where I felt clever while solving a puzzle. There was generally just the One Obvious Thing To Do. The game just kind of compares poorly in that department compared even to other games which feel like they exist in the same demographic spaces (for instance, I'm thinking of games like A Hat In Time, Tetrobot and Co., or Snakebird).

I also feel like the most unique mechanics in the game end up being quite under-utilized. It was nifty being able to take words from one part of the book and replace them with others to solve puzzles, but it turns out there's very little surprising you can do with it, and there's rarely much incentive to experiment. Early on I got an achievement for turning a small mouse into a big mouse, and later on I enjoyed changing some floor spikes into being made of cheese, but in general the game doesn't encourage experimentation much in that regard. On one chapter I'd started taking all the words "out" of the book so I could easily go plug them in to other situations and have a whole arsenal of options, but the opportunity never really came up, and my saved words disappeared once I reached the next chapter anyway.

And then even the final boss fight in the game completely ignores these unique mechanics -- instead of fighting via the book-manipulation technique, you're thrown into a shoot-em-up arcade minigame. I would've liked to have had the opportunity to apply everything we've learned in the game to finish it off, but it felt a bit anticlimactic to me.

As mentioned in another review, the game does have some pacing issues as well. You're constantly getting interrupted by dialogue which is often not especially interesting. It's hard to feel too sore about that, though, since it's all done with an earnest and caring touch. As someone who's probably far outside the intended demographic for this game, it's probably difficult to adjust for how a younger, less experienced player would find all of this.

So, in the end, it's hard to be too mad at the flaws. I had a pretty enjoyable time regardless, and it really is a beautiful-looking game. If you want a pretty breezy and cute platformer-ish game which exudes wholesomeness and warmth, you could certainly do worse.

Okay, I wanted to like this game, but ultimately just can't recommend it. I don't think it's as bad as the average review on here might lead you to think, but it just isn't good. There were some occasional good (and funny) bits, but way too much of it felt like a chore rather than a joy.

I had quite a bit to say about why I feel that way, but the ending I got felt like it kind of obsoleted all that. Despite having a seemingly-successful final confrontation, with a team who seemed to be all getting along and celebrating their victory, the game decided my team morale score wasn't high enough and just decided to kill off Fran, offscreen, inbetween everyone's celebration scene and the "final" scene of the game. Just Anu and Octavio inexplicably suddenly going off to a graveyard to drop some flowers off. I wondered if I'd somehow missed out on a whole segment or something.

As I say, I had plenty more to say to justify why I didn't even really enjoy the game much up to that point either, but that ending left a particularly sour taste in my mouth. If a character's gonna die, at least have it be as a direct result of some decision (or decisions) I made, not just some random aggregate "team score" which never seemed to have much bearing on the actual dialogue or actions of the characters. And let the character have a decent onscreen death scene, sheesh.

Anyway, meh. I'd been hoping the "mostly negative" reviews here were overblown, but in the end I'd have to agree, even before the ending I got soured me even further. Alas!

This is a fantastic capstone to this strange little series, and it's the most polished entry of the bunch, to boot. Previous games (Four Last Things and The Procession to Calvary) looked and played great, of course, but everything's been polished to a mirror shine for this one. The visuals are crisp and lovely, and the UI/UX has been streamlined and optimized so it's a joy to play through.

Anyway, as usual it's an absolute hoot, with adventure-game puzzles which are fair and soluble. There's even an in-game walkthrough/hint provider this time around, if you do get stuck on any puzzle. Fans of the series should absolutely check it out, and IMO it'd be a great introduction for new players as well. (While it is the third in the series, and there is a bit of continuity between them, this is an entirely standalone game which can be enjoyed entirely on its own.) Highly recommended!

SteamWorld Heist II is a glorious sequel to the original game, which does just about everything a good sequel should do. The new characters are enjoyable to spend time with, there's a very nice character arc for Captain Leeway, and some very pleasant surprises throughout the storyline. The gameplay is rock-solid, building on the SWH1 combat and providing a varied set of missions which were a delight to play through. The music (once again by Steam Powered Giraffe) is lovely as well.

At first, I wasn't entirely sold on the new naval combat system, but I grew to quite enjoy it. It turns out to be very nicely integrated into the later sections of the game, to boot. In the end it's quite complimentary to the turn-based XCOMmy mission sections. I've seen some other reviews complaining that the missions all felt samey, and after playing through the game, I just don't agree -- they do fall into some specific archetypes that you'll come to recognize, but there's constant tweaks here and there which provide some nicely varied levels. There's also an incredibly comprehensive set of difficulty options; if there's some area of the game you find too difficult (or not difficult enough), you can easily tweak the game to your personal preferences.

So yeah, tl;dr is: if you liked SWH1, you'll almost certainly like this one as well. I'd highly recommend it.

I've got a few minor quibbles with some of the additions: the multiclassing system is nifty but I found myself getting a bit annoyed at how much re-speccing I was doing, both with the skill selection and equipment, just to get a well-rounded character ready. It was kind of a drag having to reassign my favorite Flanker to be a Reaper for a bit just to make those skills available, etc. This is exacerbated slightly by the fact that crew and equipment can only be used once per "day." To get them back, you've got to head back to a bar and rest, which felt like unnecessary busywork. The plot is pretty fun, but boils down to a series of macguffin chases (I'm still a bit unclear why we needed to track down and kill the Lord Admiral guy, other than him having one of five macguffins). And there's one potentially-unpleasant difficulty spike: when you first enter the second major part of the map (Arctica), you're locked out of the starting area for awhile, and the missions there are noticeably tougher than what's come before. If you don't feel that your crew was levelled up sufficiently, it might be a rude awakening (though at least you could lower the difficulty for a bit to catch up, if you need to).

Still, all that is honestly pretty minor; this is definitely one of my favorite games of the year.

... ugh, that ending.

Okay, so I actually liked the new art style. I didn't mind the simplification (ie: near removal) of the verb system. I thought the puzzles were fun, the characters were enjoyable, and the humor was often chuckle-worthy. I even enjoyed the ways in which the game was taking the mikey out of Guybrush. Right from the beginning the game tips its hat that it's doing a sort of Princess Bride thing, and having heard some vague complaints about the ending, I had been bracing for an inevitable letdown. But somehow it managed to transcend even a severely-lowered expectation. The ending is just utter trash, and kind of ruined the rest of it for me.

I put in nearly 12 enjoyable hours, and had been planning on doing some achievement-hoovering once I finished the game, but that ending absolutely destroyed any desire I had to spend another second with it. What a waste. There are plenty of other great adventure games out there which don't insult the player and undermine all the time you've already put into the game. Go play one of those instead.

I had this game in my wishlist for years but for some reason never committed to buying it until just recently. I think I was concerned that the game would rely entirely on absurdity and "randomness" in place of actual humor or something. Turns out I was dead wrong! This adventure game is utterly delightful and I enjoyed every second of it. I've been depriving myself for years for no good reason.

Make no mistake, of course: the game is utterly absurd, and is chock full of nonsensical things happening apparently out of nowhere and without necessarily having any connection to the rest of the action. It's pulled off with panache, though, and the net result was a game that felt constantly surprising. The game leans into its irrelevant asides, piling more content into one-off scenes than some other games do to main game areas. The scenes are absolutely dense with interactable objects, with a gloriously off-kilter visual style which is fun to inhabit. Completionists may find themselves spending up to 20 minutes just getting to grips with a single room, trying to ferret out all the distinct dialogue lines that can be triggered.

The humor is often crude, but never mean-spirited (though Paradigm, the main character, often directs his harshest barbs at himself). Most importantly, the humor actually uses the absurdity and incongruity as a starting point to build on. Where a lesser game might have introduced a talking glam-rock pug purely to showcase the silliness and then move on, Paradigm adds a layer of characterization and humor on top and lets the experience linger for the player. When you encounter something weird or strange in the game, you're left eagerly awaiting what it'll do next, instead of just going "lol" and having it dismissed immediately. My only real complaint is that the humor does lean into self-referential fourth wall breakage a bit too often, especially in the early sections of the game.

The puzzles in the game are largely quite straightforward, and pretty obvious once you've got the items you need. It's also a Lucasarts-inspired adventure game in that there seems to be no way to put yourself in an unwinnable state. The only reason you might want multiple savegames would be to help gather up any missed achievements, in case that's something that might interest you. In the end, I'd wholeheartedly recommend this. It's well worth the full price, and it's probably about the most fun adventure game I've played in some time.

Trüberbrook's a very strange point-and-click adventure game that feels pretty heavily inspired by Twin Peaks and/or Lynchian surrealism in general. I personally found it quite enjoyable, though the tonal shifts were sometimes quite jarring (which, I suppose, is in keeping with its Twin Peaks influence). For instance, the game starts out playing it pretty "straight" for the most part, but soon you're randomly destroying town monuments for no good reason and riding a tram system using coat hangers, before eventually whipping back to more grounded activities like informing a character that you've just found her brother's dead body. The game's full of your typical adventure-game antics which I feel are often a bit at odds with the general tone. It does also suffer from the usual adventure game conundrums where you may not have a clue how you solved a puzzle even after you've solved it -- there's one in particular involving getting a cat down from a tree where I'm not even sure which items I used in the attempt.

Regardless, it's a pretty delicious slow burn, and it's visually lovely. I don't think I've ever played a point-and-click adventure game quite like this one, and I was glad to have the experience.